.

.

.

"Holy shit!! It's so bloody close!" I shrank away from the bad breath washing over my face. "Hurk."

"Dry heaving's not helping you in any way."

"Urgh.... If... if the eyeball is dangling out of the socket – bleghhh... it's still a kill thingy, right?"

"I don't see why not."

With a shrug, I fired for the swaying eyeball dangling from the swaying head on a swaying body.

"You lied! Eve! You fucking lied!"

"Never confirmed or denie – This is shooting practice. Not shove-gun-barrels-into-eye-sockets practice."

"Still worked, didn't it? Eww. It's all goopy. Make the goop disappear. Oh my god, it's so gross! Hurgh. Make it go away! It stinks!!"

"Doesn't have to work."

"Oh you fucking ass!"

I kicked off the head when its grubby four fingered hand wrapped around my ankle. Huffing out a breath, before I lined up the sights with another cloudy eye.

"Val, when you squeeze the trigger, the barrel has to stay steady. Like this."

Bucky's body heat seeped through the shirt on my back before his right arm rested on the floor along my left. His fingers gently closed over mine, each finger lining up in the opposite direction. His chin barely touched my shoulder. His stubble almost made me giggle and shrink away.

I couldn't bring myself to move. Not away from his light touch. Not closer to his warm half hug. Had to keep the gun still, and for how confident I was with a steady hand, it took far too much effort to hold still.

"The slightest shift changes the trajectory."

The words brushed over the shell of my ear with a warm breath, sending a tingling jolt down my spine.

There was barely any pressure on my index finger at his gentle movem –

"Eh? The hell?"

Empty clicks.

"Uh oh."

Out of darts.

'Shit. Damn. Fuuuuuck.'

"Might I recommend clearing your head for the fifth time. Your levels are going to all manner of places."

"Clearly suggesting it hasn't worked the first four fucking times!!!"

I ducked under a grabby arm. Did not want that gross goop on me. Shoving darts into tiny holes while trying to dodge was more than annoying.

"Braaaaaaiiins!"

"Do not moan in my ear with that foul breath!!"

Straight up tore off its fucking head and it still bloody demanded for brains.

With a huff, I lined up the sights again.

'Deal with these three and get some wiggle room. Yup. Sounds about right.'

Probably utterly dumb luck I got my wiggle room....

"There! Like that!" Bucky practically cheered.

His hand grabbed onto my shoulder. His cheek pressed down against the top of my head.

And then he froze.

He hesitantly retreated, so I turned around and rather carefully wrapped my arms around him. Made sure to keep my chin over his shoulder.

"Yay!" I chirped.

Took far too long to hit that bloody ass quarter.

"Eve, how in the hell did it take us this damn long to figure it out?" I huffed, speeding down the highway while munching on a honey dip donut.

"I figured that you were the problem."

"What the hell happened to him to be so terrified of a fucking peck?! What the fuck did they do to him!?!"

"I'm unsure if that's something he'd want you to know. What they did to him.... But the kiss thing has me stumped. I'm empty on possible theories. My suggestion is to keep your lips to yourself."

"No shit, Sherlock. Thank fuck hugs don't break him or I really wouldn't know what to do around him."

"You shouldn't lie. Not to us. If you wanted a vacation, you should have told us. Everyone has better things to do than accommodate your laziness."

"Mum, I spent the two months 'working' on Wegner, not –"

"Don't think for a second that I don't know about your daily trips to that park when you should have been working."

"I don't understand why I love you!!!"

The revolver flew from my fingers. Hurled it as hard as I could at the fucking zombie in front of me.

The anger flowing through me almost numbed the pain for my ribs. They didn't much like the strain of throwing things or the harsh breathing.

"Oh fuck."

"Oh fuck indeed."

Surrounded on all sides. My gun beyond the circle of shambling zombies. Not good.

"Valeriy?"

"Aww shit...."

I barely caught a glimpse of Bucky's horrified face before an arm slammed me into the ground. My head bounced off hole riddled shoe with a toe hanging out.

Pain flared all over my body. The crescent marks of biting. The straight lines of scratching.

"Ow! Shit! Stop fucking chewing on me!!! You bloody bastards!!!"

"VAL!!!"

A blur of grey sweatpants soared over me.

'Was that... Was that a flying kick? What the shit?!'

"Get the hell off her!!!"

One of the zombies in the mob flew. Just flew right up in an arc. Another one followed the first. And another. And another.

"Val!?!"

The unstable panic under those bright blue eyes –

"Bucky! I'm okay! Eve!!! Stop! Abort! Stop the game!!!"

In an instant, everything went white. The buildings and zombies disappeared.

"I'm fine, Bucky – Perfectly fine."

Before I could peel off the floor, Bucky was beside me. All wrapped around me, and then almost snapped my neck from how fast he held me at an arm's length away. All furrow browed and frowny.

Blinking out of whiplash, I smoothed his hair out of his face and scratched at his scalp. "Hey there, I'm alright. Breathe with me, 'kay? Breathe with me. Yup. There we go. Just like that. We're safe here. We're at Soteria. Safe. It's safe here."

"What were those?" he questioned, struggling to slow his breathing to mine.

His hands held onto mine, pulling them away from his face and so very carefully flipping them this way and that way. I could practically feel his eyes dart over my exposed skin.

He did the same with my legs. Probably checking for injuries that weren't there. No bite marks. Just a fucked up ankle encased in black metal.

Either way, far more awkward than my arms.

I stopped him when he tried to flip up my shirt, tugging his grip off the hem. After a few times of that, I sighed. "Bucky, you're not looking up my shirt."

At that, his cheeks flushed bright red, and he quickly hid his hands behind his back. "I-I... I didn't mean.... I –"

"I'm not hurt."

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Author's Note:

If you enjoyed this part, please consider leaving a vote. They're very much appreciated. ^^

And a big thank you to TinselA/Bunny Carrot (https://www.fanfiction.net/u/7591081/) and the Anonymous Fifth Beta for Beta-ing this chapter.